Facebook, Inc. announced partnerships with mobile operators to provide free or discounted data access to Facebook messaging for their subscribers. Through this promotion, free or discounted data access will be available in the coming months on Messenger for Android, Messenger for iOS, and Facebook for Every Phone, which is now optimized for chat. This promotion will be available from more than 18 operators in 14 countries. Operators committed to special pricing for Facebook messaging include TMN in Portugal, Three in Ireland, Airtel, and Reliance in India, Vivacom in Bulgaria, Backcell in Azerbaydzhan, Indosat, Smartfren, AXIS and XL Axiata in Indonesia, SMART in Philippines, DiGi in Malaysia, DTAC in Thailand, Viva in Bahrain, STC in Saudi Arabia, Oi in Brazil, Etisalat in Egypt, and Tre in Italy.

According to a recent AFP article, the world’s two largest business networking websites, Linkedin Corporation, and Viadeo, are doing all they can to adapt to the demands of the Chinese market. Viadeo has tried to act more locally, recently acquiring Chinese business networking website Tianji and relocating their Chief Executive Officer to China. Linkedin, alternatively, has done relatively little to adapt their strategy. For the most part, there is almost no difference in how the site functions inside China than from anywhere else. they do not even offer a Mandarin based site.

According to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, Groupon will report earnings, on Wednesday, while riding a string of good news, but the business still has a long way to go before a majority of analysts view it positively. The biggest advantage Groupon has, according to the report, is that some of their largest competitors appear to be doing worse, especially LivingSocial, which recently received a much-needed round of funding that was quickly labeled a desperate act of a dying company.

Shares of online game maker Zynga, Inc. are advancing for a second straight session, following Nevada’s rush late last week to approve online gambling in the state. Last Thursday, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed legislation legalizing online gambling, in the state, on the same day that lawmakers quickly passed the bill through their Assembly and Senate. Earlier this month, Zynga said at their earnings conference call that they had filed a preliminary suitability application for online gambling with Nevada’s gaming board, this past December. In the later part of last year, Zynga hired a former online gambling executive to head their gambling initiative and announced a partnership with bwin.party to offer real money online poker and casino games in the United Kingdom. Zynga shares moved up 23c, or 7.77%, and shares have advanced another 37c, or 11.6%, to $3.55.